Internal medicine and rheumatology specialist Siobhan Deshauer, MD, solves the mystery case of Leslie, a woman who experienced unexplained weight gain and a host of other symptoms.
Following is a partial transcript of the video (note that errors are possible):
Deshauer: Meet Leslie, a woman whose life took a drastic turn in her late 20s when she gained over 100 lbs for no apparent reason. Little did she know her weight gain stemmed from a hidden medical condition, a reversible cause of obesity. So join me on this medical mystery as Leslie regains her health and her life.
Leslie grew up in the United States and, like the rest of her family, she had always been a bit heavier. But it wasn't until her late 20s that she really noticed her weight getting out of control. At first, she rationalized it, saying it was because of culinary school and then because of her first pregnancy, but the weight just steadily piled on until she could barely recognize herself when she looked in the mirror.
Leslie: It became pretty obvious that the weight gain was not due to either one of them and it was getting so bad and coming on so fast that I was getting to a point that I did not recognize myself. I recognized my eyes, but the rest of me was just looking so strange. I was starting to run into things, doorways and countertops. Now I'm running into the wall. Now I'm knocking something off the counter. That was very strange to live through and to experience.
Deshauer: Leslie withdrew into the home, rarely going out or socializing at all. She became increasingly anxious and irritable, and she was exhausted. But she kept waking up at 3:00 a.m. every morning and couldn't get back to sleep, so she went to her family doctor. He noted her weight gain, found that she now had high blood pressure, and a blood test confirmed new diabetes, so things were really piling on at this point.
Leslie: He prescribed the medicines for the diabetes and the blood pressure. He gave me a copy of the Mediterranean diet, but I could just tell he could tell that there was something else going on. He was a good partner as far as he could be. He learned a lot. He was very curious throughout, but he just didn't have the skill set, I guess, to get it right. It looked a lot like things he had seen. He had seen a lot of diabetes, a lot of high blood pressure, and a lot of obesity, so he attempted just to treat those things that he saw.
Deshauer: One day she developed such a splitting headache that she had to go to the emergency department and she found out that her blood pressure was through the roof.
Leslie: I all of a sudden had this horrible headache, one of the worst pains I had felt up to that point -- and I had two kids at this point -- so like my mind went wild with what it could have been. So I went to the ER [emergency room].
In triage, they noted that my blood pressure was extremely high. I want to say it was like 180/110 or 180/120. "Oh, well you've got hypertension. Well, I mean this is a hypertension migraine. Oh, it's just this. Well, you need to lose weight." It just hurts so bad in my head, the pain, but also to have the doctors just sort of say, "It's because of your weight."
Deshauer: Then Leslie's skin started to change. She developed deep, purple stretch marks all over her abdomen and severe cystic acne that she hadn't even had as a teenager. It became so bad that she went to her family doctor complaining of shoulder pain, only to find out that she had a severely infected skin abscess on the back of her shoulder.
Next to Leslie's horror, her hair started changing. First, her eyebrows became noticeably darker and bushier. Then she developed some dark hairs in the top of her lip for the first time ever. Her hair was thinning so fast that she became terrified to even brush it. Like so many of us, Leslie's long hair was part of her identity and one of the last things that felt like her was disappearing quickly. Through all of this, Leslie's mood just plummeted. She became irritable, paranoid, and depressed.
Leslie: Unfortunately, with all of these symptoms also came pretty intense anger, more accurately categorized as rage, sometimes. It's really a difficult balance because you want to isolate and you just want to kind of be by yourself. But at the same time, you don't want to be lonely and you don't want to be left by yourself.
Deshauer: Of course, this was also the time that her best friend was getting married. At the height of her weight gain, Leslie put on a bridesmaid's dress, hid her depression behind a big smile, and walked down the aisle. A few months later, one of Leslie's friends came to visit.
Watch the video above for more.
Siobhan Deshauer, MD, is an internal medicine and rheumatology specialist in Toronto. Before medicine, she was a violinist, which is why is called Violin MD.